The ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program is ready for new volunteers! This year, for the first time since early 2020, YAGM participants are walking alongside our international neighbors. Now, it’s time for the YAGM team to find the next volunteers ready to step out into the world. Do you know one of them? Applications are now open, and you can invite young adults on this journey abroad for the 2023-2024 program year.

If you know young adults aged 21 to 29, this is the time to reach out. Encourage them to apply for YAGM by the deadline of Feb.1, 2023. (Priority deadline is Jan. 15, 2023.) Talk to them personally about what this opportunity will mean for their faith, identity, career and understanding of God’s work in the world. You can also watch and share this video message to learn about some of the ways the YAGM team is updating the program’s recruiting practices and making it more welcoming for everyone.

YAGM volunteers will begin in August 2023.

Through YAGM, young adults will learn what it means to serve in a spirit of accompaniment as they walk alongside global church companions. They’ll become immersed in a new community and form deep relationships. And they’ll confront issues of wealth and poverty, racial privilege, gender privilege, economic disparity and globalization, all through the lens of faith. Learn more at ELCA.org/YAGM.

Young adults will find relevant opportunities for professional experience, including:

• Health and human rights: Health care, HIV and AIDS, homelessness, immigration and refugees.

• Education: Fine arts, youth education, childhood education, working with people living with disabilities.

• Environmental justice: Agriculture and farming, development, environment.

• Professional support: Office work, communication, technology, finance.

• Congregational ministry: Children’s ministry, Christian education, youth ministry, congregational ministry, camp ministry.

Around the world, host families, churches, workplaces and communities are ready to welcome YAGM volunteers.

Don’t wait — spread the word and forward this email now! The deadline to apply is Feb. 1, 2023. Priority will be given to those who apply before Jan. 15, 2023.